Method and system for switching subscriber content

ABSTRACT

Embodiments of the present invention provide that a content provider itself provide subscription content to a device of a second type, rather than to a device of a first type. For example, the device of the second type may be a mobile telephone or the like, whilst the device of the first type may be a set-top box. By providing the content itself the content provider can keep track as to when it is providing content to the device of the second type, and further, in some embodiments, take action to prevent reproduction of the content at the device of the first type, such that whilst the user is viewing the subscriber content on the device of the second type, another user is not able to view the same content on the device of the first type. In order to provide such an arrangement, the content provider is preferably provided with suitable content encoding and streaming server apparatus, which is able to encode the content in a format appropriate for transmission to the device of the second type (such as, for example, transmission to a mobile device).

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method and system for switchingbetween devices which receive subscriber content, such as, inembodiments, pay per view television, or the like.

BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION AND PRIOR ART

It is known that consumers can pay for entertainment content, such aspay per view television, provided by companies such as Sky Television,or the like. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical arrangement of such a pay perview system. Here, a user has a home display 20, such as a TV set, orthe like, which is typically accompanied by a receiver, for receiving,decoding, and reproducing content signals for display on the homedisplay 20. Such a receiver is commonly referred to as a “set top box”,such as set top box 14. Commonly, the set top box receives signals 14via a satellite connection, as represented by satellite 18, transmittingsignals between transmitter satellite dish 11, and the receiversatellite dish 16, installed at a user's home. Typically, the receiversatellite dish 16 will be a very small aperture terminal, as is wellknown in the art.

To control what content the user receives, typically the set top boxwill be provided with a card reader, into which a smart card is insertedwhich controls the decryption of encrypted subscriber content channels.The set top box 14 is further often provided with a modem, which is ableto communicate via the public switched telephone network 12 back to theback end systems of the content provider 10. The content provider 10therefore broadcasts content channels via its own satellite transmitter11, and is also able to control the user set top boxes 14, using theconnection thereto over the PSTN 12.

Thus, for example, the content provider 10 is able to send suitableenable and disable signals via the PSTN 12 to the set top box 14, so asto enable or disable the decryption of encrypted content channels, usingthe smart card inserted into the set top box.

Such systems are well known in the art, such as, for example, the Sky TVsystem, installed in many homes.

Recently there have been proposals to allow for subscription content tobe forwarded from a set top box to a user's mobile device, such that theuser can view the subscription content on the mobile device. One suchproposal is that by the company ROK Entertainment, as was described in apress release dated 24 Mar. 2006 and published on the “Mobile Europe”website. In particular, here it is described how a home user may buy anadditional box 22, which connects to the TV signal feed from the set topbox 14. It also connects to the user's broadband modem (not shown).Inside the box 22 is an encoding engine 26 which encodes the TV signalinto a format suitable for transmission over a mobile network. Also inthe box is a streaming server 24. The streaming server 24 is connectedto the user's broadband modem, such that external devices can connect tothe streaming server 24, and receive the encoded content streamtherefrom, via the Internet 28. It therefore becomes possible for a userto connect to his own server 24 in the box 22 via his mobile device 32,by having appropriate client software including the appropriate contentdecoders installed on the mobile device, and to connect via a mobileaccess network 30 which is capable of providing appropriate data bitrates (such as a GPRS, or 3G network). The user can then use the clientsoftware installed on the mobile device to connect via the mobile accessnetwork, which in turn has a gateway to the Internet 28, through to theserver 24 in the box 22 provided at his home. The box 22 theneffectively encodes and streams the output from the user's set box 14over the Internet and via the mobile access network 30 to the user'smobile device 32, where it is reproduced.

The prior art also describes that the box 22 may send infrared signalsto the set top box 14 in the home, so as to control the channel that iswatched. The client software installed on the mobile device 32 is ableto control a box 22 to perform this function.

However, such an arrangement has several disadvantages, both legal, andtechnical. In terms of the technical disadvantages the system requiresthat the user's broadband modem be connected to the Internet 28 at alltimes, such that the user of the mobile device 32 can connect to theserver 24 in the box 22 through the broadband modem. However, leaving abroadband modem connected to the network can be problematic, andparticularly where the modem also requires a user's PC to be left on. Inparticular, it can leave the PC open to potential malicious attacks, forexample to try and obtain information from the PC, or to installSpyware, or the like, on the PC.

Additionally, there is also a potential legal problem with thearrangement, in that the user is usually only paying for onesubscription, which typically means that the subscriber content may bereproduced on one display only, at once. However, because the set topbox 14 is also able to output the subscriber content to the home display20, as well as via the box 22 to the mobile device 32, then, althoughthe user is only paying for one subscription, he is in fact able towatch it on two different devices. In fact, even two different users maybe able to watch the same content, one on the home display, and one onthe mobile device. This would typically be contrary to the terms andconditions of the user's contract with the content provider.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to address the above problems, embodiments of the presentinvention provide that the content provider itself provide content to adevice of a second type, rather than to a device of a first type. Forexample, the device of the second type may be a mobile telephone or thelike, whilst the device of the first type may be a set-top box. Byproviding the content itself the content provider can keep track as towhen it is providing content to the device of the second type, andfurther, in some embodiments, take action to prevent reproduction of thecontent at the device of the first type, such that whilst the user isviewing the subscriber content on the device of the second type, anotheruser is not able to view the same content on the device of the firsttype. In order to provide such an arrangement, the content provider ispreferably provided with suitable content encoding and streaming serverapparatus, which is able to encode the content in a format appropriatefor transmission to the device of the second type (such as , forexample, transmission to a mobile device in the same or a similar manneras in the prior art). Preferably, user authentication mechanisms areused to authenticate the user of a the device of the second type as auser who has actually subscribed to subscription content, and toreconcile the identity of a user of a device of the second type with theowner of a device of the first type. With such an arrangement it becomespossible for a content provider to provide subscription content toeither a device of the first type or a device of the second typebelonging to the same user, but to be sure that both devices at the sametime are not able to reproduce the content. Additionally, the problem ofthe prior art relating to a user having to leave his broadband modemconnected all the time is also solved, as a user is able to simplyconnect to the content provider when required. Thus, the user does nothave the problems of his home broadband modem being connected to theInternet constantly.

In view of the above, from a first aspect there is provided a method ofcontrolling reproduction of subscription content, comprising the stepsof: transmitting subscription content to a first receiving device;determining that the subscription content is required by a secondreceiving device; disabling reproduction of the content by the firstdevice; and commencing transmission of the content to the secondreceiving device; wherein the first and second devices have a commonuser.

From another aspect there is provided a method of controllingreproduction of subscription content, comprising the steps: determiningwhich of a first receiving device or a second receiving device isrequired to reproduce subscription content; enabling, if necessary,reproduction of the subscription content on the determined device anddisabling, if necessary, reproduction of the content at the other of thedevices, whereby reproduction of the subscription content may occur ononly one device at once; and wherein the first and second devices have acommon user, and are devices of different types.

With such arrangements the subscription content can only be viewed onone device at once, and hence the terms of the subscription can be moreclosely adhered to. Moreover, there is no need for a user to maintain anInternet connection constantly, as the subscription content is provideddirectly from the content provided in respect of both devices.

In preferred embodiments the first and second devices are devices ofdifferent types. Preferably the first device is a set-top box, and morepreferably the second device is a mobile device. Thus, subscribercontent which is usually reproduced by a set top box can also beprovided to a mobile device.

Preferably, where the first device is a set-top box it retains theability to record the content for future reproduction whilst thereproduction of the content is disabled. In this way recordings whichhave been set can be successfully carried out, even though the user isreproducing the content on the second device.

Preferably the subscription content is encoded according to a firstencoding format for transmission to the first device and according to asecond encoding format for transmission to the second device. Thus, thecontent can be encoded into a format which optimises the transmissionmechanism. For example, for a mobile device the content may need to bereduced in size to a large degree, for example using sub-sampling of thecontent, and appropriate encoding techniques. For a set-top boxreceiving the content via a broadcast link, typically the bandwidth willbe relatively high (−6 Mhz per channel) and hence different encodingtechniques can be used. Of course, different content channels may bemultiplexed onto a single broadcast channel, as is well known in theart, such as in the DVB-T and DVB-S standards.

In particularly preferred embodiments reproduction of the subscriptioncontent by the first device is automatically re-enabled when the contentis no longer required to be transmit to the second device. Therefore,the first device can act as a default device for receiving the content,and the user does not need to explicitly command the provision ofsubscriber content to be made back to the first device. Sucharrangements are particularly preferable where the first device is aset-top box, which can commonly be set to make recordings of contentautomatically. However, if the set-top box has been disabled fromreceiving the content, such recordings may not be able to happen.

From a further aspect there is provided a system for controllingreproduction of subscription content, comprising: a first transmissionsystem for transmitting subscription content to a first receivingdevice; an access controller which determines that the subscriptioncontent is required by a second receiving device and disablesreproduction of the content by the first device; and a secondtransmission system for transmitting the content to the second receivingdevice; wherein the first and second devices have a common user.

From a yet further aspect there is provided a system for controllingreproduction of subscription content, comprising the steps: an accesscontroller which determines which of a first receiving device or asecond receiving device is required to reproduce subscription content;wherein the access controller enables, if necessary, reproduction of thesubscription content on the determined device and disables, ifnecessary, reproduction of the content at the other of the devices,whereby reproduction of the subscription content may occur on only onedevice at once; and wherein the first and second devices have a commonuser, and are devices of different types.

Within the further aspects the same advantages are obtained as in thefirst aspect, and the same further features and advantages may also beobtained, as will be apparent from the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further features and advantages of the present invention will becomeapparent from the following description of an embodiment thereof,presented by way of example only, and by reference to the accompanyingdrawings, wherein like reference numerals refer to like parts, andwherein:—

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a subscription content transmission systemof the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a subscriber content transmission systemand onward streaming arrangement of the prior art;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system according to a first embodiment ofthe present invention; and

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating the steps performed in theoperation of the first embodiment of the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENT

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a first embodiment of the presentinvention. FIG. 3 illustrates in particular a broadcast arrangement forbroadcasting subscriber content from the transmission system of acontent provider 10 to a home user provided with a set top box 14. Inthis respect, the same numbered reference numerals present in FIG. 3 arethe same as the prior art in FIG. 1. Whilst the broadcast system is hereshown as a satellite broadcast system, it should be appreciated that inother embodiments different broadcast systems may be used, such asterrestrial broadcast systems, transmission over the Internet, or thelike. Hence, in other embodiments the set-top box may be for receivingterrestrially broadcast content, such as that which is broadcast inaccordance with the DVB-T standards.

Different to the prior art, at the content provider end is a subscribercontent encoding and streaming apparatus 40, comprising a contentencoder 42, and a streaming server 44. Additionally provided is anaccess controller 46, which is operable to authenticate a user ID, andconfirm that a user requesting access is able to receive encodedsubscriber content streams. The server 44 is connected to the Internet28, which itself is provided with a gateway to a mobile access network30, such as a GPRS network, 3G network, or the like. A user is providedwith a mobile handset 32, on which is installed appropriate clientsoftware to enable connection to the server 44, and to decode andreproduce any received encoded content.

Additionally, the content provider back end system 10 also connects tothe set top box 14 via the PSTN 12 in the conventional manner, such thatthe content provider back end system 10 is able to enable or disable adecryption smart card provided in the set top box 14.

It will thus be appreciated that more generally the content provider isable to provide the subscription content to devices of two differenttypes, being in this embodiment the set-top box 14 and the mobilehandset 32. The content provider is thus provided with access to contenttransmission or transport systems of at least two different types, beingin this case the broadcast transmission system for transmitting thesubscription content to the set top box, and the content encoding andstreaming apparatus 40 for streaming the suitably encoded content to themobile handset via the Internet.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram illustrating the operation of the system ofFIG. 3.

Firstly, assume at step 4.2 that the set top box 14 is enabled, and isoutputting received , decrypted, and decoded content at step 4.4 to thehome display 20, which then displays the subscriber content to a user,as required. This is the default position for the system, i.e. that theuser usually receives the subscriber content at his home, which isdecrypted by the set top box 14, and displayed on the home display 20.

However, imagine now that the user provided with the subscriber contentsubscription wishes to view the subscriber content on his mobile device32. The user uses the appropriate client software installed on themobile device 32 to establish firstly a data connection via the mobileaccess network 30 and the Internet 28 to the streaming server 44, atstep 4.6. The user is provided in advance with a unique user ID, whichis used to authenticate the user, to determine whether the mobile device32 should receive the subscription content. This authentication exchangeis controlled by the access controller 46, which stores valid user IDsat the present time, typically in a look up table. This look up table isdependent on the present subscription status of the user. That is,should the user fail to pay his subscription, or his subscriptionexpire, then the user ID will be deleted from the look up table.

At step 4.8 there is, therefore, a user ID authentication exchangebetween the mobile device 32 and the server 44, wherein the user inputshis user ID (and possibly password) into the mobile device 32, whichthen transmits the data via a data connection over the mobile accessnetwork 30 and Internet 28 to the server 44. The server 44 passes thereceived information to the access controller 46, which determineswhether there is a valid user ID (and password), and if so, informs theserver 44 that access is allowed. If there is no valid user ID, then theaccess controller 46 informs the server 44, which then sends a refusedaccess message back to the mobile handset 32.

If the user ID is successfully authenticated, then as mentioned theaccess controller 46 controls the server 44 to permit the server tostart streaming data to the mobile device 32. At the same time, theaccess controller 46 informs the content provider back end system 10that the user is receiving the subscriber content on his mobile handset.At step 4.10, therefore, the server 44 receives encoded subscribercontent from the encoder 42, which itself receives the content to encodefrom the content provider back end system 10. At step 4.12 the server 44streams the encoded content to the mobile via the

Internet 28 and the mobile access network 30. At step 4.14 the mobilereceives, decodes and reproduces the received streamed content. Steps4.10., 4.12 and 4.14 are repeated ad infinitum, until the user shutsdown the receiving client application on the device 32.

At the same time, the content provider back end system 10 sends, at step4.16, a disable signal to the set top box 14, via the PSTN 12. Thisdisable signal is sent in the conventional manner of the prior art, i.e.using the mechanism that is conventionally used to enable and disablesmart cards inserted into set top boxes. At step 4.18 the set top boxbecomes disabled, and is then no longer able to receive and reproducesubscription content. Of course, the set top box may receive andreproduce non-subscription content, such as public channels or the like.At the same time, therefore, the output to the home display 20 of thesubscription content is disabled, at step 4.20. The STB and the homedisplay remain disabled with respect to receiving and displayingsubscription content, whilst the user is using the mobile device 32 toreceive the subscription content.

At some point the user will no longer wish to use the mobile device 32to receive the subscription content, and will indicate that hisreceiving session is to end, typically by shutting down the clientapplication. This may occur at step 4.22, as shown. Here, the server 44indicates to the access controller 46 that the connection to the user isno longer in being, and the access controller 46 informs the contentprovider back end system 10 that it should now re-enable the set top box14. Therefore, at step 4.24 the content provider back end system 10sends, via the PSTN 12, a smart card enable signal to the smart card inthe set top box 14, such that the set top box becomes re-enabled, and isable to receive and reproduce the subscription content.

In some embodiments, rather than the enable and disable signals beingsent via the PSTN 12, they can be multiplexed onto the broadcast signalwhich is sent via satellite 18. In other embodiments, such as theterrestrial broadcast embodiments, the enable and disable signals may bemultiplexed onto the terrestrial broadcast signal. In this way theinvention may also be used with terrestrial subscription contentservices, such as the subscription content service availableterrestrially in the UK known as “Top-UP TV”.

Once the STB has been enabled the output to the home display becomesre-enabled, at step 4.28. In this respect, steps 4.26 and steps 4.28 aresubstantially identical to steps 4.2, and steps 4.4 describedpreviously.

With the above arrangement, therefore, control of which user devicereceives and reproduces subscription content can be retained with thecontent provider 10, such that the content provider can be assured thata single device is reproducing subscription content at any one time.Additionally, the user is also provided with the ability to accesssubscription content on his mobile device, via the Internet, and hencecan access such content in theory anywhere in the world.

Additionally, when the user is not using his mobile device to accesscontent, then the user's set top box 14 remains able to receive andreproduce the subscription content. Hence, if the set-top box is set torecord any programmes, these recordings can still take place.

The subscription content may of course be audio and video content, datacontent, or any content for which a subscription is required.Additionally, whilst we have described the embodiment in terms of theprovision of subscription content such as video content, in otherembodiments the subscription content may be other types of data, and inparticular other embodiments may find use where a content provider isconcerned about a user accessing subscription content using multipledevices, and the content provider wishes to restrict the access of theuser to the content to using one device at a time.

Additionally, in another modification to provide a further embodimentthe set top box 14 may be provided with software which allows the userto select a command on the set top box which directs the contentprovider 10 to begin streaming data over the Internet and mobile accessnetwork to the mobile device 32. That is, the user would command the settop box 14 that he or she wishes to receive the subscription content onhis mobile device, and the set top box 14 would then disable itself, andsend a command to the content provider back end system 10 that thesubscription content should begin to be encoded and streamed to theuser's mobile device 32. Preferably, the user's mobile device 32identification information, such as an IMEI or the like, is registeredwith the content provider back end system 10, so that a connection canbe set up from the server end 44 to the mobile device 32.

Alternatively, the configuration of the system may be such that the userof the mobile device 32 must start his client application which thensets up the connection to the server 44 from the mobile device end.

In the above embodiments the set-top box is prevented from reproducingthe subscription content whilst the subscription content is beingprovided to the user's mobile device. However, as noted previously someset-top boxes (usually known as Personal Video Recorders (PVRs)) alsoprovide the capability to record content for reproduction in the future,at the user's convenience. In a further embodiment, therefore, whilstthe user mobile device is receiving the subscription content the set-topbox also retains the ability to receive and decrypt the content forrecording purposes, but is prevented from re-producing the content, forexample by outputting the content to the display for reproduction. Thismeans that where the user has set the set-top box to record some of thesubscription content then the recording may go ahead and will still berecorded, even though the user is receiving the subscription content onhis mobile device. In this way, the successful completion of a recordingis not dependent on whether the user is receiving content on the mobiledevice. The subscription content provider may charge the user extra forthe use of this service.

The above described arrangement may be provided by differentiatingbetween the control signals sent to the set-top box, either over thePSTN, or over the broadcast channel. More particularly, a first type ofcontrol signal may be sent to indicate that the set-top box should stopreproducing the subscription content altogether, even for recordingpurposes. A second type of control signal is then used to indicate tothe set-top box that only reproduction of the subscription content isprevented, but that recording can occur.

Alternatively, the default operation may be that recording is alwayspermitted even though reproduction is prevented. In this case, only onetype of control signal is required i.e. the enable and disable signaldiscussed previously.

Within the above described embodiments we concentrate on providing thesubscription content to devices of two different types, being a set-topbox and a mobile telephone, such that the subscription content may bereproduced using only one device at once. Of course, in otherembodiments other devices may be used. For example, a user may have asubscription for subscription content which is usually provided over theInternet to his desktop computer. However, in another embodiment of theinvention the content may instead be re-routed to his mobile telephone.In this case the same transmission system is used, at least in part(being the Internet), but the routing applied to the content isdifferent. Additionally, to meet the more exacting requirements ofmobile transmission different content encoding schemes may be used.

In further embodiments other devices of different types may be used. Theonly requirement is that they are capable of receiving and reproducingthe subscription content, using whichever transmission mechanism isapplicable to them. For example, a portable media player equipped with aWi-Fi (IEEE 802.11) transceiver and software to allow streamingconnections to be established over the Internet would also be suitable.When the content provider was streaming subscription content to themedia player over the Internet, then the set-top box would be disabled,as described previously. Additionally, no second streaming flow would beprovided to the mobile telephone at the same time.

It should also be noted that in the above embodiments we have describedthe switching of the reproduction of the subscription content as beingbetween a device of a first type and a device of a second type. However,embodiments of the invention are not limited to switching between twotypes, and in fact switching between three or more devices would bepossible. For example, a user may be provided with a mobile telephone, aset-top box, and Wi-Fi enabled media player. When at home the user woulduse the set-top box to reproduce the content, in the conventionalmanner. When away from home, but not in range of any Wi-Fi hotspots, theuser may use his mobile telephone to access the subscription content,using data connections available over the user's mobile network, againas described. When in range of a Wi-Fi hotspot (such as when in a hotel,airport, or railway station), the user may use his Wi-Fi enabled mediaplayer to access the subscription content over the Internet. Of course,the set top box would be disabled when subscription content is beingstreamed to the media player or the telephone, and content would only beprovided to one of the media player or telephone at the same time.

Further modifications may be made to the above described embodiments toprovide further embodiments, which are intended to fall within the scopeof the appended claims.

What is claimed:
 1. A method comprising: determining by an apparatus ofa content provider to transmit content via a first routing to at least afirst device based upon a subscription of a user, wherein the apparatusis located outside of user premises; determining by the apparatus thatthe content is requested by a second device based upon the subscription,wherein the second device is a mobile device; determining by theapparatus to transmit the content via a second routing to the seconddevice based upon the subscription; and determining by the apparatus totransmit a signal via the first routing to the first device and totransmit the content via the second routing to the second devicerespectively, wherein the signal causes disabling of reproduction of thecontent by the first device.